2504

J. Agric. Food Chem. 1998, 46, 25042508

Isolation of 6-, 8-, and 10-Gingerol from Ginger Rhizome by HPLC

and Preliminary Evaluation of Inhibition of Mycobacterium avium
and Mycobacterium tuberculosis
R. D. Hiserodt,*, S. G. Franzblau, and R. T. Rosen
Center for Advanced Food Technology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, and Laboratory Research Branch, Gillis W. Long Hansens Disease
Center, P.O. Box 25072, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70894

Diseases caused by Mycobacterium avium (M. avium) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.
tuberculosis) have reached pandemic proportions with some strains being resistant to existing
chemotherapies. Complex therapies requiring four to six drugs are sometimes required to prevent
the emergence of resistant strains. There is a need for the discovery of new drugs or compounds
that are potential drug templates that can be used to treat diseases caused by these bacteria. The
research reported in this paper describes the isolation of 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol from fresh ginger
rhizome and the identification of 10-gingerol as the most active inhibitor of M. avium and M.
tuberculosis in vitro. The gingerols were isolated by fractionation of a crude methylene chloride
extract of fresh ginger rhizome by normal phase HPLC. Identification was based on mass spectral
data. The identification of 10-gingerol was confirmed by synthesis.
Keywords: Zingiber officinale; ginger; 6-gingerol; 8-gingerol; 10-gingerol; AIDS; Mycobacterium
avium; Mycobacterium tuberculosis
INTRODUCTION

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is grown throughout the

tropics. It is primarily used as a spice and is valued
for its pungency which is due to a class of compounds
called gingerols.
Mycobacterium avium (M. avium) is a common environmental pathogen found in soil, water, and foodstuffs.
It is a slow growing, aerobic, facultative intracellular
parasite. It is estimated that 70% of people worldwide
are exposed to M. avium at some time during their lives
but never develop disease because healthy individuals
are protected by their immune response. However,
people with AIDS are especially susceptible to infection
with 43-70% of AIDS patients developing infections
(Bensen and Ellner, 1993; Bermundez, 1994; GarciaRodriguez and Gomez Garcia, 1993).
Respiratory infections caused by M. avium were first
diagnosed in Europe and North America in the middle
of this century. The symptoms were similar to tuberculosis. However, people who developed M. avium
infections usually had another underlying lung disease
present, and the infection rarely disseminated to sterile
parts of the body (Bermundez, 1994; Bermundez and
Kaplan, 1995; Crawford, 1994). M. avium was therefore
seen as an opportunistic pathogen.
Disseminated disease was first diagnosed in AIDS
patients in 1982. It is now the most common form of
bacterial infection in patients with advanced immunosuppression (Barradell et al., 1993). Disseminated
* Address correspondence to this author at International
Flavors and Fragrances, 1515 State Highway 36, Union Beach,
NJ 07735.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Gillis W. Long Hansens Disease Center.

disease refers to the spread of infection from the initial

areas of colonization, which are the respiratory tract or,
in AIDS patients, usually the gastrointestinal tract, to
sterile parts of the body such as the liver, spleen, lymph
nodes, bone marrow, and blood. This results in a
general deterioration of the body, loss of organ function
due to high bacterial burden, and low life expectancy
(Barradell et al., 1993; Hoffner et al., 1992).
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is a
contagious pathogen causing the disease tuberculosis.
In areas of the world where the disease is prevalent,
people with suppressed immune systems, such as those
who are HIV+, are especially prone to infection. It is
estimated that by the year 2000 there will be 15 million
new cases in sub-Saharan Africa. Many strains of M.
tuberculosis are resistant to at least one of the drugs
available for treatment of tuberculosis. The W-strain,
which was isolated in New York City, is resistant to
virtually all commonly used drugs which means potentially toxic drugs must be relied on to inhibit this strain
of the bacterium. To effectively fight this disease and
to decrease the likelihood of M. tuberculosis strains
developing resistance to drugs, therapy involves the use
of more than one drug. Standard therapy takes 1 year
and must be strictly adhered to in order to prevent drug
resistant strains. This protocol has been reduced to 6
months with the introduction of the drug rifampicin,
but, as with the standard therapy, strict adherence is
very important (Enarson et al., 1995). Clearly, there
is a need for new, inexpensive, nontoxic drugs for the
inhibition of M. avium and M. tuberculosis.
It is generally believed that foods, especially herbs
and spices, are a source of many pharmacologically
active compounds. Evidence gathered at Gillis W. Long
Hansens Disease Center at Louisiana State University,
which screens a large number of plant extracts, found

S0021-8561(97)00948-5 CCC: $15.00 1998 American Chemical Society

Published on Web 07/01/1998

Isolation of Gingerols

Figure 1. HPLC chromatogram of crude residue showing

location of cuts. Cuts 1-3 were combined to form semicrude
fraction 1, cuts 4 and 5 were combined to form semicrude
fraction 2, cuts 6 and 7 were combined to form semicrude
fraction 3, and cuts 8-11 were combined to form semicrude
fraction 4.

that ginger contained a compound or compounds that

inhibited the growth of M. avium and M. tuberculosis
(Franzblau et al., 1994). This study was initiated to
identify the compounds responsible for this activity.
This paper will describe the procedure for the isolation
of 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol by normal phase HPLC. 10Gingerol, identified as the most active compound against
the mycobacteria tested, was identified by APcI-LC-MS
and direct probe EI-MS and the identity confirmed by
synthesis via an Aldol reaction.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Isolation of Crude Extract. A 100 g sample of fresh
ginger rhizome was purchased locally and shredded in a food
processor (Vita-Mix Corp., Cleveland, OH). This was extracted
with 300 mL of methylene chloride for 5 min using a Brinkmann PT 10/35 homogenizer (Brinkmann Instruments, Westbury, NY). An ice bath was used to prevent the decomposition
of thermally labile compounds. The methylene chloride extract
was filtered through a plug of glass wool and centrifuged for
30 min at 10 000 rpm (14 476 g.) at 4 C using a Sorvall RC5B refrigerated superspeed centrifuge (DuPont Instruments,
Wilmington, DE). The aqueous layer was removed and the
methylene chloride layer filtered through a 0.45 m Nylon 66
membrane. The crude residue was isolated by concentrating
the methylene chloride extract to 10 mL using a Buchi rotary
evaporator at 40 C (Brinkmann). This was quantitatively
transferred to a tared culture tube and the residue isolated
by concentrating to dryness using a stream of nitrogen at room
temperature. The crude residue was dissolved initially in
methylene chloride and then diluted with methylene chloride/
hexanes (50:50) so the final concentration was 17.0 mg/mL in
methylene chloride/hexanes (65:35). The compounds in this
solution were fractionated by normal phase HPLC.
Fractionation of the Crude Extract by HPLC. The
HPLC system consisted of a Kratos Spectroflow 400 solvent
delivery system, a Kratos Spectroflow 783 programmable
absorbance detector at 282 nm and 0.7 AUFS (Perkin-Elmer
Corp., Norwalk, CT), and a Varian 4290 integrator (Varian,
Sugarland, TX). Eleven cuts were taken, one every 4 min,
during the separation using a Retriever II fraction collector
(ISCO Inc., Lincoln, NE). Figure 1 contains a chromatogram
for the crude extract showing the location of the cuts. The
column used was a Spherisorb CN (Phase Separations, Inc.,
Norwalk, CT), dp ) 5 m, 250 mm 4.6 mm (i.d.). Mobile
phase A was hexanes, and mobile phase B was chloroform/
methanol (95:5). The flow rate was 0.8 mL/min, and the
injection volume was 400 L. The following linear gradient
was used:

J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 46, No. 7, 1998 2505

time (min)

mobile phase A

mobile phase B

0
10
45

80%
80%
20%

20%
20%
80%

Cuts 1-3 were combined to form semicrude fraction 1, cuts

4 and 5 were combined to form semicrude fraction 2, cuts 6
and 7 were combined to form semicrude fraction 3, and cuts
8-11 were combined to form semicrude fraction 4. The residue
from each semicrude fraction was isolated by concentrating
to 10 mL using a rotary evaporator at 40 C. This was
quantitatively transferred to a tared culture tube and the
residue isolated by concentrating to dryness using a stream
of nitrogen at room temperature.
Purification of 6-, 8-, and 10-Gingerol by HPLC. The
residue from semicrude fraction 2 was dissolved in methylene
chloride and diluted with hexanes so the final concentration
was 15 mg/mL in methylene chloride/hexanes (50:50). Purified
6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol were isolated from semicrude fraction
2 using the instrument conditions outlined in the above section
Fractionation of the Crude Extract by HPLC but with the
following changes: isocratic elution, 20% mobile phase B; flow
rate, 1.0 mL/min; injection volume, 250 L; wavelength, 282
nm (0.5 AUFS). Fractions were collected manually. The
purified gingerols were isolated by concentrating each to 10
mL using a rotary evaporator at 40 C. Each was quantitatively transferred to a tared culture tube and isolated by
concentrating to dryness using a stream of nitrogen at room
temperature.
Identification of Gingerols by APcI-LC-MS. A VG
Platform II quadrupole mass spectrometer (Micromass, Beverly, MA) operating in the positive ion mode was interfaced
to a Varian 9012 solvent delivery system (Varian) and a Varian
9050 variable wavelength UV-vis detector at 282 nm (0.1
AUFS). The column used was a Spherisorb CN (Phase
Separations) dp ) 5 m, 250 mm 4.6 mm (i.d.). Mobile
phase A was hexanes; and mobile phase B was chloroform/
methanol (95:5). The components were separated using isocratic elution with 20% mobile phase B. The flow rate was
1.0 mL/min, and 10 L was injected. Masses were scanned
from 150 to 500 amu in 3 s. The other mass spectrometer
conditions used were as follows: corona discharge, +3.2 kV;
cone voltage, +10 V; probe temperature, 450 C; source
temperature, 150 C.
Identification of Gingerols by Direct Probe EI-MS. EImass spectra were obtained for purified fractions containing
6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol using a Finnigan MAT 8230 double
focusing mass spectrometer (Finnigan Corp., San Jose, CA)
with the following instrument conditions: ionization mode,
positive ion (70 eV); ion source temperature, 250 C; filament
emission current, 1 mA; direct probe temperature ramp, 35350 C; mass range, 35-600 amu at 1 s/decade.
Synthesis of 10-Gingerol (Denniff and Whiting, 1976).
A 10 g sample of zingerone was weighed into a three necked
round-bottomed flask and dissolved in 200 mL of tetrahydrofuran (THF). The middle neck was fitted with a rubber
septum. The other two necks were fitted with tube connector
adapters so the system could be purged with nitrogen. The
system was vented through a mineral oil bubbler to maintain
positive nitrogen pressure within the system. It was purged
with nitrogen for 30 min prior to addition of 1,1,1,3,3,3hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS). A 10 mL aliquot of HMDS
was added through the septum using a syringe and the
derivatization reaction allowed to proceed for 2 h at room
temperature while being magnetically mixed. The reaction
was cooled to -78 C using a dry ice-acetone bath which was
maintained throughout the reaction. A 55 mL aliquot of
lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide was added over a 10 min
period, and then 10 mL of decyl aldehyde was added over a 5
min period. The reaction was allowed to proceed for 1 h at
-78 C with magnetic mixing. At the end of the reaction the
flask was warmed to room temperature and the nitrogen
disconnected. The pH was adjusted to 5.0 with 25% HCl while

2506 J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 46, No. 7, 1998

Hiserodt et al.

Table 1. Percent Inhibition of M. avium for Crude

Extract and Semicrude Fractions of Fresh Ginger
Rhizome
residue ID
crude
semicrude 1
semicrude 2
semicrude 3
semicrude 4
a

Table 3. APcI-LC-MS and Area Percent Data for the

Analysis of Gingerols in Semicrude Fraction 2a

% inhibition at given concn (g/mL)

gingerol

retention time
(min)

area %
at 282 nm

(M + H)+
(amu)

base peak
(amu)

100 (g/mL) 50 (g/mL) 25 (g/mL) 12.5 (g/mL)

10-gingerol
8-gingerol
6-gingerol

9.8
10.5
11.6

15
11
72

351
323
295

333
305
277

87
85
95
65
0

58
0
95
0
0

13
0
73
48a
0

0
0
42
0
0

Other minor compounds ) 2%.

Outlier.

Table 2. Percent Inhibition of M. tuberculosis H37Rv for

Crude Extract and Semicrude Fractions of Fresh Ginger
Rhizome
% inhibition at given concn (g/mL)
residue ID
crude
semicrude 1
semicrude 2
semicrude 3
semicrude 4

100 (g/mL) 50 (g/mL) 25 (g/mL) 12.5 (g/mL)

85
93
95
30
0

0
27
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

magnetic mixing. The crude 10-gingerol was purified by

normal phase HPLC.
Antimycobacterial Activity. Antimycobacterial activity
was determined using the BACTEC 460 system expressed
either as percent inhibition of drug-free controls (Cantrell et
al., 1996, 1998) or as the minimum inhibitory concentration
(MIC; Collins and Franzblau, 1997).
Solvents and Reagents. Hexanes, chloroform, methanol,
and methylene chloride, used for the preparation of mobile
phases and sample dissolution, were HPLC grade and purchased from Fisher Scientific (Springfield, NJ). Zingerone was
purchased from Penta International Corp. (Fairfield, NJ).
Lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide (1.0 M in THF), HMDS
(99.9%), decyl aldehyde (95%), and THF (HPLC grade, inhibitor free) were purchased from Aldrich Chemical Co. (St. Louis,
MO).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The crude residue isolated from the methylene chloride extract of fresh ginger rhizome was a clear golden
oil that was 0.55% of the fresh ginger weight. It had a
characteristic ginger aroma and consisted of a complex
mixture of components that were fractionated by normal
phase HPLC. Samples of the crude residue from the
initial methylene chloride extract and residues from
semicrude fractions 1-4 were analyzed to determine the
percent inhibition of M. avium and M. tuberculosis. At
100 g/mL the crude residue was inhibitory for both M.
avium (Table 1) and M. tuberculosis (Table 2) in vitro.
This activity was increased in semicrude fraction 2 and
provided the justification for further fractionating semicrude fraction 2 to purified 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol. Since
the residues from semicrude fractions 1, 3, and 4 did
not show an increase in activity, nothing further was
done with these residues.
The residue from semicrude fraction 2, which was
0.20% of the fresh ginger weight, was analyzed by APcILC-MS and was found to consist of three major compounds. The area percent and LC-MS data are listed
in Table 3. APcI is a soft ionization technique which
generates protonated molecular ions in the positive ion
mode. The mass spectra for the three main components
in semicrude fraction 2 showed weak protonated molecular ions, at 5% relative intensity, and indicated the
molecular weights for the three components to be 350,
322, and 294 amu in the order of the retention time.

Figure 2. HPLC chromatogram of semicrude fraction 2.

Table 4. Area Percent Purity of Isolated Gingerolsa
area % at 282 nm
gingerol

10-gingerol

8-gingerol

6-gingerol

10-gingerol
8-gingerol
6-gingerol

84
2
nd

6
86
nd

10
12
99

nd ) none detected.

The base peak in each mass spectra was 18 amu less

than the molecular ion which indicated the three
components each lost a molecule of water. Additionally,
the molecular weights decreased, with retention time,
by 28 amu or two methylene units, which indicated the
three compounds were part of a homologous series. On
the basis of these data and data from the literature
(Chen et al., 1986a,b), the three compounds in semicrude fraction 2 were tentatively identified as 6-, 8-, and
10-gingerol. The APcI data did not indicate the presence of coeluting impurities with 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol
in semicrude fraction 2
Semicrude fraction 2 was fractionated to purified 6-,
8-, and 10-gingerol using essentially the same chromatographic conditions used to fractionate the residue
from the crude extract, the major difference being that
isocratic elution rather than gradient elution was used
to achieve the separation (Figure 2). The area purities
for 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol isolated from semicrude
fraction 2 are listed in Table 4. The effect of peak
fronting, which is the result of operating under overload
conditions, is evident from the area purity of 10- and
8-gingerol. The yields of gingerols based on the fresh
ginger weight are listed in Table 5.
The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was
determined for 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol for the in vitro
inhibition of M. avium and M. tuberculosis. The minimum inhibitory concentration is defined as the lowest
concentration that will inhibit 99% of an initial inoculum. These results are listed in Table 6. The data show

Isolation of Gingerols

J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 46, No. 7, 1998 2507

Figure 3. EI-mass spectrum of 10-gingerol isolated from fresh ginger rhizome.

Figure 4. EI-mass spectrum of 10-gingerol synthesized via the Aldol reaction.

Table 5. Yields of Gingerols Isolated from Fresh Ginger
Rhizome

gingerol

yielda (ppm)

10-gingerol
8-gingerol
6-gingerol

120
93
880

To confirm the identity of 10-gingerol, it was synthesized using an Aldol reaction. The direct probe EI-mass
spectra for synthesized 10-gingerol (Figure 4) correlated
well with the direct probe EI-mass spectra for 10gingerol extracted from fresh ginger rhizome which
confirmed the identification.

Based on weight of fresh ginger.

CONCLUSION
Table 6. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for
M. avium and M. tuberculosis
MIC (g/mL)
gingerol

M. avium

M. tuberculosis

10-gingerol
8-gingerol
6-gingerol

25
50
>100

50
50
>100

10-gingerol to be the most active compound for inhibition of M. avium with a MIC of 25 g/mL. This
represents a significant increase in activity over the
crude residue which by definition was greater than 100
g/mL. 10-Gingerol was less active for inhibition of M.
tuberculosis with a MIC of 50-100 g/mL.
Direct probe EI-mass spectra were obtained for 6-, 8-,
and 10-gingerol which confirmed the APcI-LC-MS data.
The EI-mass spectrum for 10-gingerol is shown in
Figure 3. The ions at m/z ) 322 and 294 are due to the
presence of 8- and 6-gingerol as impurities in this
sample.

A systematic approach was developed for screening

methylene chloride extracted ginger compounds for
inhibition of M. avium and M. tuberculosis, and 10gingerol was found to inhibit the growth of these
mycobacteria in vitro. The mechanism of inhibition may
be related to lipophilicity since the inhibition of M.
avium increased from 6-gingerol (MIC > 100 g/mL) to
10-gingerol (MIC ) 25 g/mL). The significance of this
research lies in the recognition of 10-gingerol as a lead
compound for more active homologues and analogues.
Some of these compounds have been synthesized and
are being tested for inhibition of M. avium and M.
tuberculosis by Gillis W. Long Hansens Disease Center.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We acknowledge the Center for Advanced Food Technology (CAFT) mass spectrometry facility for providing
instrumentation support. CAFT is an initiative of the

2508 J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 46, No. 7, 1998

New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.

This is New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station
(NJAES) Publication No. D99101-98-2.
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Received for review November 7, 1997. Revised manuscript
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JF970948L